Grow foreign fruits in Kerala; young farmers from Palakkad prove it

Chittur: Many people love to see and taste fruits cultivated and grown in foreign countries. But two youngsters in Palakkad have proved that foreign fruits will grow in our land too.

Shanooj and his friend Pragadheesh are cultivating foreign fruits on their 13-acre land at Polpully. We can find 45 varieties of foreign fruits and saplings in this fruit farm. Shanooj has converted the land close to his residence into a fruit farm with his friend.

Fruits locally grown in Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Africa and Vietnam are cultivated by these young farmers. Africa’s own Miracle fruit which converts from sour taste to sweet taste is one of the major attraction in the farm.

Kepel fruit of Cambodia is another special fruit in this farm. Kepel fruit is known as perfume fruit as consumption of this fruit will make one’s breath, sweat and urine fragrant with a distinct scent of violets.

Rollinia (Thailand), Durian (Malaysia), Baraba (Australia) and Duku (Malaysia) are the other fruits which are cultivated here. Varieties of sweet foreign mangoes and jackfruits are also grown here.

“Climate in Kerala is suitable to cultivate all these fruit trees,” said the young farmer Shanooj.

Eight varieties of Passion fruit, five varieties of guava, four varieties of papaya are also seen here.

Interested people can purchase saplings of these fruit trees from this farm.

“Many years ago, my relative gifted a Malaysian rose apple sapling to me and I planted it. When it started to grow well, I became confident to make experiments in fruit farming,” said Shanooj.

He joined hands with his neighbour and Biotechnology student Pragadheesh (19) to expand his experiments. When it became a passion, Shanooj quit his job in bank and focussed in fruit farming as a profession.

Now, the young farmers are engaged to explore the scope of fruit farming in God’s own country. Their success story will inspire more young farmers to find something interesting in agriculture.

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